VIC:Love and loss in Vic swan lake drama

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2011
VIC:Love and loss in Vic swan lake drama

By Kellee Nolan

MELBOURNE, April 27 AAP - A father swan in Melbourne who tried to keep his unhatched
chick alive after his mate was cruelly killed has found new love with an inner-city divorcee.

The faithful black swan had warmed the nest of his unhatched egg for three weeks after
his mate was struck and killed by rocks allegedly thrown by a group of teenagers.

The mother swan had been sitting on the egg for one week at a park in Moonee Ponds,
Melbourne's west, when she died.

The father vigilantly took over the nesting duties, until Tuesday night, when a pair
of black swans from inner city Albert Park came flying in.

Locals saw him leave the nest, first to defend his territory, then to fight off the
other male and win the heart of the visiting female.

"That probably left him leaving the egg a little longer than he should have, unfortunately,"

Moonee Valley Council conservation officer David Hope told reporters.

He said the swan had to defend his territory, because if he had lost it, he would have
had nowhere to raise his cygnet. He had nothing but praise for the swan's devotion to
his nesting duties.

"He was juggling it so fantastically, I was about to put him up for father of the year
and then this happens," Mr Hope said.

On Wednesday morning, the father was trying both to court his new love and look after his egg.

"He was torn between two worlds - the new female, the egg. He had a lot going on," Mr Hope said.

Mr Hope rescued the egg and took it to Melbourne Zoo, where native bird experts checked
it and found it had become chilled and would never hatch.

Despite the sad ending, he said, a new chapter of this swan lake story would now begin
with the father "strutting his stuff" with his new bird, who was part of a tracking program
at inner-city Albert Park.

"She's a recent divorcee, believe it or not. They check them regularly and just recently
she broke up with her partner, only a couple of weeks ago."

As to how the swan managed to outdo his competitor to win her heart, Mr Hope said it
was probably sheer power and size, but then again, it could have been his fatherly devotion.

"She's probably been reading the papers and hearing about how good a father he is."

Locals watching the fate of the widowed swan and his egg would be saddened by the loss
of the cygnet, but pleased to see the new romance.

"Certainly they're rapt to see two swans back in the lake again, and to have that back
is going to be very important for the healing process for the community, because you know
there's going to be a happy ending, with new cygnets on the way, hopefully."

Four youths have been interviewed by police over the death of the mother swan and are
expected to be charged on summons.

AAP kn/pmu/jl

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